Listen to This
(Insert the song we want to play at the beginning of the presentation)
Queen
Freddie Mercury
Roger Taylor
Brian May
John Deacon
(take pictures of book- pix of them in playing cards…)
Brian May
• Date Of Birth July 19, 1947
• Birthplace Twickenham, England
• Instruments Guitars, keyboards, vocals
Roger Taylor
• Date Of Birth July 26, 1949
• Birthplace King's Lynn, Norfolk, England
• Instruments Drums, percussion, keyboards, vocals
John Deacon
• Date Of Birth August 19, 1951 – Youngest Member
• Birthplace Leicester, England
• Instruments Bass guitar, double bass, keyboards
Freddie Mercury
•
•
•
•
Real Name Farrokh Bulsara
Date Of Birth September 5, 1946 - November 24, 1991
Birthplace Zanzibar, Tanzania
Instruments Vocals, piano, guitar, keyboards
The Making of Queen
IN THE BEGINNING…….
•
1968 - Brian May (astronomy student) and Tim Staffell, both students a Imperial College
decides they want to form a group.
•
They placed an advertisement and a young dental student Roger Taylor gets auditioned
and got the job.
•
They call their group SMILE.
•
1969 – SMILE were signed to Mercury Records
•
Tim Staffell was at Ealing College of Art with Freddie Mercury and introduced him to the
band. Freddie soon became a keen fan.
•
1970 – SMILE calls it a day… nothing seemed to be happening for them.
IN THE BEGINNING…….
•
Freddie leaves his own band “WRECKAGE” and joins up with Brian and Roger
•
It all began……….
•
Freddie changes his name by deed poll to Mercury,
•
He also changed the band’s name to “QUEEN”
•
They had 3 temporary bass players until February 1971, John Deacon was taken on as
the 4th member of QUEEN.
•
1971 – QUEEN is complete and ready to go….
•
The band rehearsed tirelessly and played several small gigs at Imperial College.
•
1972 - They signed a recording contract with Trident . They were just paid £60 per week.
•
13 July 1973, they issued their eponymous debut album, Queen.
“ I thought up the name “QUEEN”. It’s just a
name, but its very regal obviously, and it sounds
splendid. It’s a strong name, very universal and
immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and
was open to all sorts of interpretations. I was
certainly aware of gay connotations, but that
was just one facet of it”
- Freddie Mercury
• Received critical response from the Rolling Stone- establishing their
prominence in mainstream culture
Gordon Fletcher writes:
“Rumor has it that Queen shall soon be crowned "the new Led Zeppelin" ....
this funky, energetic English quartet has all the tools they'll need to lay claim
to the Zep's abdicated heavy-metal throne, and beyond that to become a
truly influential force in the rock world. “
(Jami - Need to find a
better version of the
logo)
QUEEN CREST –
combines the zodiac
signs of all four members: two lions for Leo (Deacon and Taylor), a crab for
Cancer (May) and two fairies for Virgo (Mercury). The lions embrace a stylised
Letter Q.
The KING of QUEEN
EARLY LIFE
•
Freddie was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East
Africa
•
His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara were Parsis from the Gujarat
region of the then province of Bombay Presidency in British India
The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar so that his father
could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office.
•
He had a younger sister, Kashmira.
•
Mercury spent the bulk of his childhood in India and began taking
piano lessons at the a young age. In 1954, at the age of eight,
Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a British-style
boarding school for boys in Panchgani near Bombay.
•
Aged 12, he formed a school band, The Hectics.
•
At St. Peter's where he began to call himself "Freddie". Mercury
remained in India, living with his grandmother and aunt until he
completed his education at St. Mary's School, Bombay.
•
At the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for
safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution
EARLY LIFE
•
The family moved into a small house in Feltham, Middlesex, England. Mercury enrolled
at Isleworth where he studied art. He ultimately earned a Diploma in Art and Graphic
Design at Ealing Art College
•
Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in
the Kensington Market in London.
•
Friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man who showed a great
deal of interest in music. In 1969 he joined the band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage.
When this band failed to take off, he joined a second band called Sour Milk Sea.
However, by early 1970 this group broke up as well.
•
In April 1970, Mercury joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who had
previously been in a band called Smile. Despite reservations from the other members,
Mercury chose the name "Queen" for the new band. He later said about the band's
name, "I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it".
At about the same time, he changed his surname, Bulsara, to Mercury.
HIS RELATIONSHIPS
•
In the early 1970s Mercury had a long-term relationship with Mary Austin. He lived
with her for several years
•
By the mid-1970s, the singer had begun an affair with a male American record
executive, which ultimately resulted in the end of his relationship with May
•
Mercury and Austin nevertheless remained close friends through the years, with
Mercury often referring to her as his only true friend. He also wrote several songs about
Austin, the most notable of which is "Love of My Life". Mercury was also the godfather
of Mary's oldest son, Richard.
•
During the early-to-mid-80s, he was romantically involved with Barbara Valentin, an
Austrian actress, who is featured in the video for "It's a Hard Life“
•
By 1985, he began another long-term relationship with a hairdresser named Jim
Hutton who lived with Mercury for the last six years of his life. Hutton died from cancer
on 1 January 2010.
“All my lovers asked me why they couldn't
replace Mary, but it's simply impossible.
The only friend I've got is Mary and I
don't want anybody else. To me, she was
my common-law wife. To me, it was a
marriage. We believe in each other, that's
enough for me.“
– Freddie Mercury (1985)
FREDDIE, THE INSTRUMENTALIST
•
As a young boy in India, Mercury received formal piano training up to the age of eight.
•
Later on, while living in London, he learned guitar. Much of the music he liked was guitaroriented: his favourite artists at the time were The Who, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, David
Bowie, and Led Zeppelin. He was often self-deprecating about his own skills on both
instruments and from the early 1980s onward began extensively using guest keyboardists,
leaving most of the keyboard work exclusively to them.
•
Mercury played the piano in many of Queen's most popular songs, including "Killer Queen”,
"Bohemian Rhapsody", "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy", "We Are the Champions",
"Somebody To Love" and "Don't Stop Me Now". He used concert grand pianos and,
occasionally, other keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord. From 1980 onward, he
also made frequent use of synthesisers in the studio.
•
Queen guitarist Brian May claims that Mercury was unimpressed with his own abilities at the
piano and used the instrument less over time because he wanted to walk around onstage and
entertain the audience. Although he wrote many lines for the guitar, Mercury possessed only
rudimentary skills on the instrument. Songs like "Ogre Battle" and "Crazy Little Thing Called
Love" were composed on the guitar; the latter featured Mercury playing acoustic guitar both
on stage and in the studio.
FREDDIE, THE SONGWRITER
•
Mercury wrote 10 of the 17 songs on Queen's Greatest Hits album: "Bohemian Rhapsody",
"Seven Seas of Rhye", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Good Old-Fashioned Lover
Boy", "We Are the Champions", "Bicycle Race", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing
Called Love" and "Play the Game".
•
The most notable aspect of his songwriting involved the wide range of genres that he used,
which included, among other styles, rockabilly, progressive rock, heavy metal, gospel and
disco.
•
In a 1986 interview, "I hate doing the same thing again and again and again. I like to see
what's happening now in music, film and theatre and incorporate all of those things.“
•
Mercury also tended to write musically complex material. For example, "Bohemian Rhapsody"
is acyclic in structure and comprises dozens of chords. ] He also wrote six songs from Queen
II which deal with multiple key changes and complex material. "Crazy Little Thing Called
Love", on the other hand, contains only a few chords.
•
Despite the fact that Mercury often wrote very intricate harmonies, he also claimed that he
could barely read music. He wrote most of his songs on the piano and used a wide variety of
different key signatures.
•
used his intuition to compose in a manner that he found sonically pleasing.
FREDDIE, THE SINGER
•
Although Mercury's speaking voice naturally fell in the baritone range, he delivered most
songs in the tenor range.
•
His vocal range extended from bass low F (F2) to soprano high F (F6). [ He could belt up to
tenor high F (F5).
•
Biographer David Bret described his voice as "escalating within a few bars from a deep,
throaty rock-growl to tender, vibrant tenor, then on to a high-pitched, perfect coloratura, pure
and crystalline in the upper reaches".
•
Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, with whom Mercury recorded an album, expressed her
opinion that "the difference between Freddie and almost all the other rock stars was that he
was selling the voice".She adds, "His technique was astonishing. No problem of tempo, he
sung with an incisive sense of rhythm, his vocal placement was very good and he was able to
glide effortlessly from a register to another. He also had a great musicality. His phrasing was
subtle, delicate and sweet or energetic and slamming. He was able to find the right colouring
or expressive nuance for each word."
•
As Queen's career progressed, he would increasingly alter the highest notes of their songs
when live, often harmonising with seconds, thirds or fifths instead. Mercury was said to have
"the rawest vocal fold nodules" and claimed never to have had any formal vocal training.
FREDDIE, THE LIVE PERFORMER
•
Highly theatrical style that often evoked a great deal of participation from the crowd, a
performer out to tease, shock and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant
versions of himself“
•
David Bowie who performed with Mercury said: "Of all the more theatrical rock performers,
Freddie took it further than the rest... he took it over the edge. And of course, I always
admired a man who wears tights. I only saw him in concert once and as they say, he was
definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand."
•
One of Queen’s best performance took place at Live Aid in 1985, during which the entire
stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang and swayed in unison. Queen's
performance at the event has since been voted by a group of music executives as the
greatest live performance in the history of rock music. The results were aired on a television
program called "The World's Greatest Gigs
•
Over the course of his career, Mercury performed an estimated 700 concerts in countries
around the world with Queen. The band were the first ever to play in South American
stadiums, breaking worldwide records for concert attendance in the Morumbi Stadium in São
Paulo in 1981. In 1986, Queen also played behind the Iron Curtain when they performed to a
crowd of 80,000 in Budapest, in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held in
Eastern Europe. Mercury's final live performance with Queen took place on 9 August
1986 at Knebworth Park in England and drew an attendance estimated as high as 300,000.
Brian May states:
We kind of knew for a long time, very very gradually, because the signs began to
appear. There came a day when Freddie said, "Look, you've probably figured out
what I am dealing with. I have this thing, and as far as I know, there is no cure. I
only have a certain amount of time left and I would like everything to carry on as
is; I would like us to make records. I do not want anyone to know, I do not want
anyone to talk about it from this point forward, and that is it."
THE FINAL CHAPTER – 1988-1991
• Following a brief hiatus, the group reconvened in November 1988 to record
prolifically for the remainder of Mercury's life, producing three albums, two of
which Queen released prior to Mercury's death {The Miracle [1989] and
Innuendo [1991]).
• During the final ten months of Mercury's life, although AIDS significantly
debilitated his physical capacity, he valiantly continued to record and
compose in the seclusion of Montreux, Switzerland, a place that provided
him with serenity from the unrelenting pursuits of the paparazzi.
• On Monday 6 November 1995, nearly four years following the singer's tragic
death, the surviving members of Queen released their fifteenth album, Made
in Heaven, an unparalleled posthumous work intended to eulogize Mercury's
inspirational life.
Brian May discusses the circumstances that surrounded these sessions:
By the time we were recording these other tracks [the songs comprising Made in
Heaven] after Innuendo, we had had the discussions and we knew that we were
totally on borrowed time, because Freddie had been told that he wouldn't make it
to that point. So our plan was to just make use of him as much as possible. We
lived in the studio for a while and when he would call and say, "I can come in for
a few hours," our plan was to make as much use of him as we could. Freddie said,
"Get me to sing anything, write me anything and I will sing it, and I will leave
you as much material as I possibly can."
•
Mercury's spirited ambition to continue making music determinedly reflected, in part, his dismay for
contracting a malady that would inescapably terminate the band.
•
Following his AIDS-positive diagnosis, Mercury, rather than immediately surrendering his talents to a
merciless disease, courageously continued to battle for his life, as he sought to impart his musical legacy
upon the world. Despite the constant manhunts by the paparazzi during the Montreux voyages, Mercury
bravely continued to compose and record music, as he chronicled through "The Show Must Go On:" "Inside
my heart is breaking, my make-up may be flaking but my smile still stays on."
Peter Freestone states:
For so many people that I know, as soon as they are told they have AIDS, theygive up because
there is no reason for living anymore. But for Freddie, it was the total opposite. It concentrated him, it made him
accept that there was so much more that he still had to do, particularly where the music was concerned. It wasn't
just him who was going to suffer from this, it was the band. With him being so inconsiderate and dying, what
would happen to the band? That preyed a great deal on his mind. He wanted to give them as much as he could.
Mike Moran continues: "He could have easily given up and disappeared somewhere, and lived the rest of his life
in isolation, but he did not do that. It is another example of how brave the man was. He was out working until he
Musical Styles,
Influences
MUSICAL STYLE
The band are noted for their:
• musical diversity – fragmented strict genre paradigms and gender codes
• eclectic array of music in a consistently innovative manner
• multi-layered arrangements to imitate the sound of a large choir through
overdubs
• vocal harmonies
• extended guitar solos
• incorporation of audience participation into their live performances – often
theatrical
• flamboyant and androgynous imagery
• themes of sentimentality, mystery, fantasy and escapism
Aside from the amount of raw talent in the band Queen excelled
because each member had a specific role to play and fulfilled it
to the max. Everyone contributed as a songwriter. They had
three lead singers who brought distinctly different attributes to
the songs they sand. They forged a unique collaborative vocal
style. They had a cosmic guitar presence that was unequalled
and perhaps the most commanding frontman rock ‘n’ roll has
ever seen. You don’t get much better than that.
~ Billy Squier, Rock icon, 1982
MUSICAL GENRES
• encapsulated a diverse range of genres, interwoven artistically
through the medium of a rock album
I like people to go away from a Queen show feeling
fully entertained, having had a good time. I think Queen
songs are pure escapism, like going to see a good film
- after that, they can go away and say that was great,
and go back to their problems..
- Freddie Mercury, 1981
“I’m in awe of Queen as a band, just from the way they morphed
from pretty much a direct hard rock band into a massively
effective progressive rock band and the way they married
classical into hard rock...and the way they kept pushing the
envelop. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ to me, took rock to another
level. And Queen was mega-versatile- songs like ‘Crazy Little
Thing Called Love’ that were practically 1950s to songs like
‘Killer Queen’ and ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ that were out-and-out
rockers. Jus watching that band morph and change directions
over the years was just amazing.”
~ Paul O’Neill, Trans Siberian Orchestra
WHO INSPIRED THEM
• Many other British rock acts at the time, such as The Beatles,
Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, Black Sabbath, Slade,
Deep Purple, and David Bowie
• And other artists such as the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Jan and
Dean, Annunzio Mantovani and Frank Zappa
• ... as well as many different genres of music, often with a
tongue-in-cheek attitude
/ am so depressed by these people who still won't admit that
everything we do simply drips with originality.
- Freddie Mercury
WHO THEY INSPIRED
• Like their music, the bands and artists that have claimed to be
influenced by Queen are diverse and span different generations,
countries, and genres:
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY - INTRODUCTION
•
Released as a single on 31 October 1975, and later appearing on A Night at the
Opera (21 November 1975)
•
Queen's best-known and arguably most important work in terms of its lasting cultural
significance
•
At the time of Mercury's death, he considered "Bohemian Rhapsody" to be one of his
greatest accomplishments
•
Sonically personifies the artistic innovation and musical mastery of Queen and the
late Freddie Mercury – through technological experimentation and creative modes of
composition
•
Vividly showcases the fragmentation of genre constructions through the group's
innovative use of technological applications and by fusing elements of glam and
progressive rock with those found in musical theatre, opera buffa and vaudeville
•
Groundbreaking promotional video significantly influenced the style of modern -day
music videos in the MTV era
•
Six minutes long -nearly twice the length of conventional pop singles of the time
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – A ROCK “MOCK OPERA”
• Use of "cascade effect" and vocal overdubs to create sonic choral effects
• Parodies various elements of opera: choruses of multitracked voices
alternating with arialike solos, excessive emotions, confusing plot, and
sarcastic recitative and distorted Italian operatic phraseology
• Operatic recitative, aria/lied, and chorus are juxtaposed with hard rock
• The initial dramatic monologue gives way to outrageous juxtaposition of
music and words, so the song veers from melodrama to nonsense.
• The confused context of these terms serves both to highlight the foreign
intrusion of opera in a rock anthem and parody the lack of understanding of
foreign language opera common to most rock fans.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – MUSICAL STRUCTURE
•
Consists on 3 main parts: a ballad segment ending with a guitar solo, an operatic
passage and a hard rock section
•
Begins with a cappella group vocals introducing the story and setting the mood
•
Next comes an aria/lied – a lament-like ballad with enigmatic lyrics, accompanied by limping
broken arpeggios on the piano
•
depicts a suicidal young man confessing to a murder, bemoaning his short life and imploring his
“mother” ‘to carry on as if nothing really matters’
•
Interrupted by a dramatic guitar solo which depicts an Orpheous-like descent into the insanity of
he underworld aka chaos --complete with a demonic chorus “Thunderbolts and lightning, very
very fright’ning...”
•
Followed by a operatic section with falsetto solos - ‘Gallileo...’ and a nonsensical mix of Italian
and French terms such as ‘Silhouetto’, ‘Scaramouche’, ‘Mama mia’ and ‘Fandango’.
•
Choral jury interjects with their judgement of guilt; “We will not let you go;”
•
Abrupt transition into a stereotypical rock mode with the words, “So you think you can stone me
and spit in my eye.”
•
Songs ends with an aria/lied by gradually thinning the density of the accompaniment with a
subtle decrescendo
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – MEANING PART 1
• Literal interpretation: its nihilistic narrator kills a man for no reason and then
resigns himself to execution and subsequent damnation.
• Underlying meaning: autobiographical testimonial to Mercury's binary life ---Mercury expressing his plea for forgiveness, as he confronts his suppressed
past and begins a new life as a liberalized homosexual
• A very simple interpretation of a very complex song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmwdalT4HHQ
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – MEANING PART 2
•
Guitarist Brian May supports suggestions that the song contained ceiled references to
Mercury’s personal traumas
"Freddie was a very complex person: flippant and funny on the surface, but he concealed
insecurities and problems in squaring up his life with his childhood. He never explained
the lyrics [of "Bohemian Rhapsody"], but I think he put a lot of himself into that song.“
•
Roger Taylor maintains that the true meaning of the song is “fairly self-explanatory with
just a bit of nonsense in the middle”
SOMEBODY TO LOVE (COVERS, DIFFERENT VERSION)
• different versions & usually selected as contestant songs in many
of American idol series
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLAqv5rix_M (lastest season –
group round)
• Ella Enchanted ( movie – ella version )
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bffIJDTrEM&feature=related
(movie)
• Glee Cast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vQj4i4awhY&feature=related
(can play this one as this is the latest and has lyrics on screen)
•
Discography Queen Discography Queen II Discography Sheer Heart Attack Discography A
Night at the Opera Discography A Day at the Races Discography News of the World
Discography Jazz Discography The Game Discography Flash Gordon Discography Hot
Space Discography The Works Discography A Kind of Magic Discography The Miracle
Discography Innuendo Discography Made In Heaven
Their Legacy
• “I think most people will never really be able to appreciate the genius of
Queen... Luckily, when it comes to these kind of artists, they leave us a
legacy of their music, and all you have to do is listen to them once...to realize
they were ahead of their time. And at a time we’re trying to compartmentalize
everything, I think Queen was just music. They were lovers of music, and
that’s why their music stands the test of time. Every time you hear it you go
‘Wow, that’s genius.” ~ Brian McKnight
• “Some of my favourite songs and some of the only songs that I know all the
words to are Queen. My favourite’s definitely ‘We are the Champions’.
’Something about that song is so powerful, and if they play it at a stadium or
in a sports arena, everyone knows that song. It’s so amazing when you can
have a part of history like that, a song that the whole world knows. It’s such a
feat.” ~ Lance Bass NSYNC
IN TERMS OF MUSIC
•
Created music that utilized technology in inventive ways, consequently enabling them to
compose complexly by appropriating stylistic attributes from disparate genres.
•
The poetics of their vocation as musical innovators inspired countless musicians with their
precision and originality.
•
To this end, Freddie Mercury and his bandmates determinedly challenged themselves by
continually exceeding customary industry standards.
•
Mercury states: We always liked to confuse people and prove we're not really like anyone
else... We're more in the showbiz tradition than the rock 'n' roll tradition. We had an
identity of our own because we combined all those things that define Queen. That's what
people didn't seem to realise.
•
Their music is played ad infinitum around the world at spectacles ranging from sporting
events to musicals
CONTRIBUTION TO AIDS
•
As the first major rock star to die of AIDS, Mercury's death represented a very important
event in the disease's history.
•
In April 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust
and organised The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness to celebrate
the life and legacy of Mercury and raise money for AIDS research, which took place on
Easter Monday, 20 April 1992.
•
The Mercury Phoenix Trust has since raised millions of pounds for various AIDS
charities. The tribute concert, which took place at Wembley Stadium for an audience of
72,000, featured a wide variety of guests including; Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin),
Roger Daltrey (of The Who), Extreme, Elton John, Metallica, David Bowie, Annie
Lennox, Tony Iommi (of Black Sabbath), Guns N' Roses, Elizabeth Taylor, George
Michael, Def Leppard, Seal, Liza Minnelli (and also U2 via Satellite).
•
Elizabeth Taylor spoke of Mercury as "an extraordinary rock star who rushed across our
cultural landscape like a comet shooting across the sky". The concert was broadcast
live to 76 countries and had an estimated viewing audience of 1 billion people.
TRIBUTES
•
A statue in Montreux, Switzerland (by sculptor Irena Sedlecka) has been erected as a tribute to Mercury.
It stands 3 metres high overlooking Lake Geneva and was unveiled on 25 November 1996 by Freddie's
father and Montserrat Caballé. Beginning in 2003, fans from around the world gather in Switzerland
annually to pay tribute to the singer as part of the "Freddie Mercury Montreux Memorial Day" on the first
weekend of September and the Bearpark And Esh Colliery Band played at the Freddie Mercury statue on
1 June 2010. In 1999, a Royal Mail stamp with the image of Mercury on stage was issued in his honour as
part of the Millennium Stamp series.
•
Freddie Mercury statue above the West End's Dominion Theatre.
•
In 2009, a plaque was unveiled in Feltham where Mercury and his family moved upon arriving in England
in 1964. The star in memory of Mercury's achievements was unveiled in Feltham High Street by his
mother Jer Bulsara and Queen bandmate Brian May. [99] A tribute to Queen has been on display at the
Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas throughout 2009 on its video canopy. In December
2009 a large model of Mercury wearing tartan was put on display in the centre of Edinburgh as publicity
for the run of We Will Rock You at the Playhouse Theatre.
•
A statue of Mercury stands over the entrance to the Dominion Theatre in London's West End since May
2002, where the main show has been Queen and Ben Elton's musical We Will Rock You.
•
For Mercury's 65th birthday, Google dedicated their Google Doodle to him. It included an animation set to
the chorus of "Don't Stop Me Now"
PORTRAYAL ON STAGE
•
On 24 November 1997, a monodrama about Freddie Mercury's life titled Mercury: The
Afterlife and Times of a Rock God opened in New York City.
•
It presented Freddie Mercury in the hereafter; examining his life, seeking redemption
and searching for his true self .
•
The play was written and directed by Charles Messina and the part of Mercury was
played by Khalid Gonçalves (né Paul Gonçalves) and then later, Amir Darvish. Billy
Squier opened one of the shows with an acoustic performance of a song he had written
about Mercury titled I Have Watched You Fly.
PORTRAYAL IN FILM
•
Brian May announced in a September 2010 BBC interview that Sacha Baron Cohen,
previously best known for his comedic characters Borat, Ali G and Brüno, had been
chosen to play Mercury in a film about his life. TIME commented with approval on his
singing ability and visual similarity to Mercury. The motion picture is being written by
Peter Morgan, who had been nominated for Oscars for his screenplays The Queen and
Frost/Nixon. The film, which is being co-produced by Robert De Niro's TriBeCa
Productions, will focus on Queen's formative years and the period leading up to the
celebrated performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert. Filming is due to begin sometime
in 2011.
•
In April 2011, Brian May confirmed that a lot of work was still being done in preparation
for the film. He said that after holding back for a long time due to mixed feelings, the
band had approved a team to start filming later in 2011, and Baron Cohen's eagerness
had been the key to progress.
DISCOGRAPHY
•
We Will Rock You
•
We Are the Champion
•
I want to break free
•
Bohemian Rhapsody
•
Don’t Stop Me Now
•
ETC.
LEGACY ( CAN LIST HERE AWARDS)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7758704.stm (hall of fame news)
Queen's star is the 2,207th such honour made to date. (news- 18 oct 2002)
FREDDIE MERCURY
•
Just recently---Freddie's birthday tribute - Rolling stones video
•
http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/new-and-hot/queen-googles-freddie-mercury-tribute20110906
•
http://www.freddie.ru/e/archives/ok/ (OK! Magazine – mary’s interview)
•
Last appearance of Freddie Mercury
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeSvPDAi4l8&feature=related
•
Last moment/cut of Freddie Mercury
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGXETANamy0&feature=related
•
He loved life and loved music and worked his best until the end despite of his health.
•
http://www.8notes.com/biographies/queen.asp ( Queen Timeline)
“ If you are going to do
something, do it with style” –
Freddie Mercury
with a quotation from "We Are the Champions," a song that compellingly incarnates the life,
works, times and memory of the late Freddie Mercury:
I've paid my dues time after time
I've done my sentence but committed no crime
And bad mistakes, I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face, but I've come through
• FROM here onwards, pictures
that we could
use…………………….